1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for casting a fiber-reinforced metal body and, more particularly, to such a casting process in which a shaped fibrous article made of a reinforcing fiber is placed into a cavity in a casting mold, and a molten metal is filled into the shaped fibrous article and solidified.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In casting such products, it is a conventional practice to disperse short fibers as reinforcing fibers into a molten metal and cast a metal product using that molten metal (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 206154/84).
However, the above procedure is accompanied by the problem that the short fibers are not uniformly dispersed in the product body thereby making it difficult to uniformly reinforce the entire body.
In addition, there is also known a fiber-reinforced cylinder block blank for engine use which is reinforced around its cylinder bore portion with a shaped fibrous article. In casting such cylinder block blank, a process has been adopted which comprises mounting a cylindrical shaped fibrous article on the outer peripheral surface of a cylinder bore shaping core disposed with its axis laid horizontally and then, pouring a molten metal into a cylinder block blank molding cavity in which the shaped fibrous article is located, from a position in the cavity near one open end of the shaped fibrous article and thereafter, completely solidifying the charged molten metal under a high pressure.
With the above process, however, problems are encountered: the flow of the molten metal runs axially from one open end of the shaped fibrous article toward the other open end, and for this reason, a gas such as air is liable to be confined at the other open end of the shaped fibrous article, resulting in the generation of voids in the product.